That Christmas Spirit
by SPNWinchesters
Summary: AU, The holidays are rolling around and Clarke isn't sure she wants to spend another family Christmas dinner with her mother pestering her about a boyfriend, but as Abby Griffin always said "what's fun about college if you can't live a little?"
1. Chapter 1

**An AU where Clarke is in college and Bellamy is her crabby neighbor who thinks Christmas sucks. I don't own the 100 or anything affiliated. Enjoy :)**

It was 7:45 when Clarke stumbled out of her apartment, a piece of toast dangling from her mouth, trying to pull her sweatshirt on and hold her backpack at the same time all the while running towards the stair well. She was going to be so late to class. She didn't know why she'd agreed to go out with Raven the night before. The two of them had gotten shit-faced drunk and Clarke had woken up thirty minutes late with a massive hangover. _Note to self: don't go out on Sundays._

"You dropped something." Clarke froze and tried not to sneer at the voice before turning around. Her neighbor was standing by his door holding one of her folders with a smirk planted on his face. Clarke deadpanned and stomped up to him, snatching the folder of out his hand and shoving it into her backpack.

"Thanks." She muttered, spinning around and flying down the stairs. The walk from her apartment to school wasn't that long, only about a fifteen minute walk, but she jogged today and tried not to seethe at her neighbor's stupid smirk that he always wore.

When Clarke first moved into the apartment complex, she'd been almost over the moon to find that her neighbor was fairly attractive, and attended the same university that she did. She imagined him being sweet and charming, sensitive to her feelings, and dreamed the two of them always hung out. Only...the first time Clarke had ever met the guy, he'd laughed at the oversized sweatshirt she was wearing and asked if she needed any spare change. Needless to say, Bellamy Blake was the complete opposite of sweet, charming, and sensitive.

His sister, Octavia, was a different story altogether. She didn't live with her brother, but she had an English class with Clarke and the two of them got along pretty well. Clarke wondered how they were even related, but Octavia had assured her many times that her brother wasn't really a jerk, he just didn't know how to make new friends. Clarke doubted it.

When she flew into said English class exactly on time, but with windswept hair that resembled a bird's nest and panting horrifically loud, she slumped into her seat while the professor started the lesson. Octavia hid a snicker at the state of her friend and tried to be a nice friend while Clarke muttered under her breath about her shitty morning.

"Did you see my brother?" Octavia suddenly broke through Clarke's mutterings, smiling apologetically at the affronted look Clarke gave her at being interrupted. "He hasn't been answering my calls and I'm worried about him." She admitted, fiddling with her long brown hair.

"Yeah, I saw him this morning. Why?" Clarke asked, internally wincing at her unintentionally rude tone at the mention of Bellamy. Octavia, who had grown used to Clarke's dislike of her older brother, only sighed slightly and rested her chin on her hand.

"His long time girlfriend, Roma, broke up with him and moved out. They were together since their freshman year of high school, so he took it really hard. He hasn't been coming to class for a week, since it happened, and he won't answer my phone calls or texts. I just want to make sure he's okay." She gnawed on her lower lip, corners of her mouth turned down in a frown. Clarke felt bad for her.

"Now that you mention it, I think I heard some fighting a few days ago. It was kind of late at night, so I didn't really pay attention to what was going on, but he didn't make a sound or show his face for a while after that. This morning was the first time I've seen him since then." Not that Clarke actively looked for Bellamy Blake. She'd be happy if she never had to see the guy again. Octavia hummed and looked down at her English binder, scribbling down the notes. Clarke looked away, frowning slightly, and started to sketch Octavia's profile.

When their English class ended, Octavia and Clarke parted ways with friendly smiles, though Clarke could see that Bellamy's withdrawal from his little sister's life was really bothering her. Octavia had divulged Clarke with a small tidbit of the Blake siblings private life and admitted that when she'd moved out of Bellamy's apartment to live with her fiancé, Lincoln, she'd cried herself to sleep every night for a month from the absence. Clarke wondered what it was like to miss someone so much.

After Clarke's classes ended, she started to trudge towards her home, pulling her sweater tighter around her and trying to keep her teeth from chattering.

"It's pathetic to watch you try and pretend like you're not freezing. Get in. I'll drive you." A large SUV pulled up next to her, the window rolled down to reveal Bellamy's face inside. Clarke chewed on her lip, considering denying the offer, but a gust of cold wind made chills travel up her spine so she climbed inside of the warm SUV and placed her hands closer to the vents spewing hot air. The drive was silent, but Clarke softly thanked him as they trudged up the stairs together towards their apartments. When they got to their doors, Clarke started to dig around in her backpack for her key, only to freeze when she realized that in her rush to get out of the door that morning, she'd forgotten it on the hook by the door.

Instead, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed her land lord's number, chewing on her lip slightly as she waited for him to pick up. She didn't even notice Bellamy leaning against the wall by his unit, watching her.

"Hello?" Her land lord finally picked up.

"Hi, Mr. Kane? This is Clarke Griffin from 301D. I'm sorry, but I've accidentally locked my key inside of my unit. Is there any way you could unlock my door for me? I'm so sorry." She apologized, leaning back against her door.

"I can't get there until around 8 or 9. Can you find somewhere to go until then?" Kane asked stoically. Clarke winced. He was pissed.

"Yes, thank you so much." She practically whispered, hanging up the call and throwing her head back against the door. It made a dull thunk sound and she almost considered bashing her head so hard she'd go into a coma.

"Nice going, Princess." Bellamy sneered. Clarke jumped and bared her teeth, spinning around to snap back at him. Octavia's voice rang through her head before she could bark out a response. _"He took it really hard."_ She sighed miserably and slid to her butt on the ground. She didn't like Bellamy, but she wasn't one to kick someone when they were down, and she really didn't have the energy to deal with him anyway.

"Yeah." she murmured in response, pulling her knees up to her chest and dropping her forehead onto them.

"How long?" Bellamy asked, not looking at the seemingly miserable girl on the ground.

"8 or 9." She muttered, voice muffled by her knees. Bellamy let out a sigh before pushing himself off of the wall and extending his hand down to her.

"Come on. It's at least warmer in my place." Clarke looked up at him in astonishment before giving him a small smile and taking his hand. He lifted her to her feet easily and entered his unit, allowing the door to swing shut and almost hit Clarke as she hurried after him. His place looked almost exactly like Clarke's, only hers was a mess and Bellamy's was impeccably clean. "You can sit anywhere." He gestured around. Clarke took a seat at his small table, looking around at the sparse decorations on the wall. Just a few pictures of him and Octavia and one of a woman smiling down at what seemed to be a baby Bellamy.

"Your sister's worried about you." She looked up at Bellamy, watching his shoulders stiffen where he was standing at the fridge with his back to her.

"You want some coke?" He asked, not turning his head to look at her. She could have sworn she heard his voice tremble, though.

"Sure, thanks." She replied, deciding to drop the previous subject. He took a seat across from her, sliding a can of coke over to her and opening a can of Budweiser. Well, he was four years older than her, so he could legally drink.

"My sister talks about you." Bellamy broke their silence a few minutes later, staring down at the chipped wood table and messing with the tab on his can. "Tell me, what's the daughter of a nationally known brain surgeon and an ex NASA engineer doing living in a place like this?" Clarke searched for the contempt that usually accompanied questions about her parents like this, but she only found curiosity in his eyes.

"I just...I want to make my own path, you know? I don't want to be known as Clarke Griffin, daughter of Abby and Jake Griffin. I just want to be Clarke Griffin. That one girl you sit next to in English." She replied, shrugging and taking a sip of the Coke. Bellamy snorted and Clarke looked up, startled to find hate shining in Bellamy's eyes.

"It's nice you get to choose." He spat venomously, his mood dramatically altered. Clarke flinched and nodded, looking down and trying to shrink away from Bellamy's wrath. "I really hate self-entitled people, Clarke, but what I hate even more are ungrateful people. You've got everything you could ever want laid out for you on a gold platter, and you choose to live in this dump and work as a waitress at some sleazy bar? Idiotic." He spat, standing and moving towards where the bedroom was. "You can stay as long as you need, but keep the noise down. I'm going to sleep." Clarke winced as the door slammed and let out a long breath. She didn't know why Bellamy was so angry about her choice of lifestyle. Did it have something to do with the way he and Octavia grew up?

Octavia hadn't spoken much about her childhood, just that she and Bellamy were in foster care and had moved homes a lot when they were younger. Octavia had told Clarke that even as a child, Bellamy had been as irrational and unpredictable as he was now. But even though Bellamy frequently teased her, she'd never seen such hate glistening in his eyes directed towards her. Maybe towards their rude neighbor across the hall, Robert, who'd made one too many provocative comment about Octavia and Bellamy had sent him to the hospital with six fractured ribs and a shattered nose, but never her. It was actually terrifying.

Clarke busied herself with her homework, and when she finished she pulled out her sketchbook and started to draw, not really paying attention to what she was doodling. When she finished, she realized it was another picture of Octavia as Clarke had seen her many times, a bright smile on her bubbly face and her eyes shining. Clarke gnawed on her lip and looked at the clock on Bellamy's stove. 8:30. When had it gotten so late? Deciding she was finished imposing on Bellamy, she closed her sketchbook and dropped it and her pencils back into her bag. She set her can on the counter next to Bellamy's empty beer can and pushed her chair in before she quietly left. She only sat in the hall next to her door for a few minutes before Kane showed up, warning her that if she pulled that kind of stunt again, she'd have to pay extra on her rent. She nodded vigorously and thankfully collapsed onto her couch. She didn't even get both of her shoes off before she drifted into a sleep filled with dreams of a terrifying Bellamy-esque dragon.


	2. Chapter 2

Clarke was in a zombie state at 8 AM when she shuffled into her art history class and slumped into her seat. She'd had a restless night and her back hurt from sleeping on her couch, and though art history was one of her favorite classes, she wasn't really feeling it today. Jasper took his seat next to her, leaning over to start a conversation. She turned her head slightly and fixed him with a tired glare. He smiled unsurely and backed away from the girl. It was clear she didn't want to be messed with.

"Good morning!" Clarke winced and turned to fix her glare on the girl next to her. Clarke had never bothered to learn her name in the large class, but she was always happy go lucky and Clarke hated that. How could one person be so happy all the time?

"Hey Roma! How have you been?" Jasper greeted from Clarke's other side. She stiffened minutely, regarding the girl next to her with blank eyes. Roma? As in Bellamy's ex girlfriend Roma?

"Great! My fiancé and I have started to plan our wedding!" Roma sighed dreamily, staring down at her hand.

"Haven't you guys only been dating for three months?" Jasper asked, a bit unsure. Clarke shook her head minutely. There was no way it was the same Roma, if she'd been in her current relationship for three months.

"Officially, we've only been together for a few weeks, but I've loved Jake since I met him three years ago." Clarke often forgot she was in an art history class with a bunch of juniors as only a freshman. "I just had to end my previous relationship before we could properly start seeing each other." She was explaining. Clarke searched the girl's expression, but there was no malice. "I mean...we were seeing each other way before I broke up with Bellamy." Clarke stiffened straight as a board, hands clenched to fists at her side, an irrational surge of fury passing through her.

"Clarke?" Jasper asked in concern. "Are you okay?" He asked, touching her shoulder softly. Clarke cleared her throat, putting her head down.

"I'm not feeling well. I think I'm going to leave." She didn't know why she responded so negatively to Roma's comment, but she hoisted her bag to her shoulder and left class, brushing past the professor as he entered the room with a quick excuse of a stomach bug, which the man seemed to accept. He sent her off with a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and a kind 'feel better'. She hurried out of the building, flinching against the frigid air, before turning her gait to a slow meander. She'd seen Bellamy a few times on campus, but he refused to look at her and she was beginning to wonder if she'd overstayed her welcome in more ways than one.

"Why the long face?" Clarke's shoulders tensed at the familiar voice and she looked up. Finn stood in front of her, head cocked, eyes concerned. He was the last person she wanted to see. She turned her head away from him and murmured an excuse, brushing past him. "Clarke wait! It's been so long, do you think we could catch up?" He asked, reaching out as if to capture her arm. She stepped just out of his reach.

"Look Finn, I really don't feel good so I'm just going to head home." It was kind of a lie. She didn't feel like she was getting sick, but a headache was starting to develop just behind her eyes and she wanted to sit down and have a drink of coffee. A harsh gust of wind blew Finn's hair around his face and Clarke was glad she'd worn a beanie today as he stiffened against the wind.

"Sure, okay." He murmured, retracting his arm and turning to continue his trajectory towards the music building. "See you around." She hummed and turned her back to him, trudging through the gusts of wind. At least Christmas break was right around the corner. Just two more weeks.

"Dammit. I'm such an idiot." Clarke shook her head, muttering to herself. Why had she responded to Roma that way? Maybe it was because Bellamy's curious brown eyes haunted her, or because she felt like maybe she'd misjudged him the first time she saw him. Maybe it was because she understood what it was like to be cheated on. Or rather, she understood what it was like to be the other woman.

It was no secret on campus that Finn had been cheating on his girlfriend Raven with Clarke while he was here at university and she was home, working. He hadn't even mentioned her to Clarke until the day after they'd slept together and she showed up at his door while they were eating lunch together. Clarke had watched, almost dropping the cup she held, as the girl had thrown her arms around Finn and kissed him passionately.

Octavia had a big mouth, and as soon as she'd found out she'd blabbed it to everyone she knew. That's how Raven had found out. Raven, who had been so heartbroken to know she'd transferred here just to find out that her boyfriend had been cheating on her. Raven, who had hated Clarke at first for being the other woman. Raven, who was now one of Clarke's closest friends and the only other member of the 'Finn Collins Fucked Me and Then Fucked Me Over' club.

Clarke ducked into the campus coffee shop and dropped her bag at one of the tables before going up to the ordering counter. The girl behind the counter looked about as bad as Clarke did and monotonously took Clarke's order without even looking at her. Clarke gave her an extra tip because she was feeling sympathetic, and the girl, whose nametag read Harper, finally gave her a small smile.

Clarke sat alone at a table sipping her coffee and staring down at the wood. There were only a few other people in the small shop, two kids who seemed to be studying for finals, and a boy sitting in one of the corner armchairs reading a large text book and occasionally pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Clarke thought he looked kind of snooty.

"Ditcher." Clarke looked up to see Octavia take the seat across from her, her own coffee held in her hands. "What's wrong? You look kind of pale. Did something happen in art history?" Octavia fired questions sporadically, not giving Clarke any time to answer.

"Nothing happened." She assured Octavia. "I just feel a little under the weather. Did you know Roma sits next to me in that class? I had no idea." Neither would Octavia. At the mention of her brother's ex girlfriend, Octavia's face dropped into a sneer.

"You mean the bitch that's been cheating on my brother for three years? Yeah screw her." Octavia turned her nose up, staring at Clarke with narrowed eyes. Clarke dropped her eyes, tracing the circumference of her coffee lid with one finger. "Did she say something?" Octavia spat. Clarke winced, though she knew the girl wasn't angry with her, and nodded her head.

"She was just talking about how her and her fiancé were seeing each other way before she broke up with Bellamy, which you already knew. I don't know why, but I just felt sick when she was talking about it, so I left. I guess it's probably because I can relate." Clarke murmured, taking another sip of her now lukewarm coffee. "It doesn't matter anyway, your brother hates me." She shrugged, not sure why it bothered her so much that Bellamy refused to acknowledge her existence anymore.

"Bullshit." Octavia replied immediately, glad for the topic change before she burst into Clarke's art history class and wrung Roma's neck with her own two hands. "He doesn't hate you. He's just a stubborn little shit. He doesn't want to admit that he might actually like someone who's rich and all that junk. He's totally against the privileged. Top 1% and all that." Octavia explained. "Just because of our upbringing. Bellamy and I never really had it easy, so he's always had this inexplicable grudge against those who haven't had to go through the same stuff we have. But don't worry about it. He just needs to get through your exterior and it'll be okay." Octavia assured her. The two were silent before another thought seemed to occur to the dark haired girl. She smiled deviously and leaned slightly across the table to Clarke. "Why does it suddenly bother you that he won't talk to you? I thought you didn't like him." She winked mischievously.

"It doesn't!" Clarke denied ferociously, setting down her now empty coffee cup. "I just thought it was weird. He had such a drastic mood swing. I was just wondering who put a stick up his butt." She snapped, taking the strap of her backpack and slinging it across her shoulder. Octavia smiled knowingly, but accepted Clarke's answer and waved her out of the little coffee shop.

Clarke dragged her feet all the way home, startled to find that her stomach was actually unsettled. She shook her head, refusing to believe it, even though the signs were all there. She couldn't be getting sick just a week before finals!

She reached her door after what felt like hours of climbing stairs. Her breaths came in fast pants and her head was spinning. She fumbled for her key, spitting a curse as she dropped it, and tried to bend down to retrieve it. The world shifted under her feet and she was suddenly on the floor, black spots dancing in front of her vision. She faintly heard a yell from down the hall and rushed footsteps before she saw someone's face blurrily swimming in her vision. An unkempt mop of dark brown fur and deep brown eyes to go with it. None other than Bellamy Blake himself.

"Clarke?! Are you okay?!" He seemed panicked, hands all over the place as he alternated between checking her forehead for a fever and lightly slapping her cheeks. Her world came back into perspective.

"I'm okay." She murmured, pushing herself to a seated position. She took a few deep breaths, closing her eyes against the whirling world and tried to anchor herself. Suddenly, without warning, two arms slipped under her armpits and hoisted her to her feet. She gasped at the sudden change in altitude and started to stagger, but a steady force kept her from falling. Clarke couldn't help but slump against Bellamy as he unlocked her door for her and helped her stagger inside.

"You need to go to bed." He murmured, helping her towards her bedroom. He softly deposited her on the large, queen sized bed, muttering about privileged people and all their damn money, before he took her shoes off and yanked the blankets up to her chin.

"I'm okay, Bellamy." Clarke tried to protest as he swiped her sweaty hair off of her forehead and placed his hand against her burning skin.

"Like hell you are. You're practically scalding, Clarke. I'm going to call Octavia. She knows this stuff better than I do." Clarke closed her eyes as he moved to the end of her bed, talking softly on his phone. A few seconds later, his hand reappeared on her forehead and she flickered her eyes open. "Octavia will be here in a few minutes. I'm right next door if you two need anything." And then he was gone. Clarke smiled after him before closing her eyes and waiting for Octavia to show. Maybe Bellamy Blake wasn't as bad as she'd originally thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry It has taken me so long to update! I hope you guys like this!**

"Well Jesus Clarke, if you didn't wear yourself so thin you wouldn't be getting sick like this!" Clarke rolled her eyes as her mother continued to lecture her on the other side of the phone. "You're lucky that the Blake siblings were there to take care of you, or you'd still be sick!" Clarke tried to refrain from sighing heavily.

"Yeah mom, I know." She replied, leaning back in her kitchen chair and pulling the phone away from her ear as her mom continued to rant about not taking care of herself and if the Blake siblings hadn't been there to take care of her.

It had been a few days since Bellamy had found her practically passed out in front of her room, and Octavia had nursed the blonde girl back to health with ample dosages of soup and cold medication. Clarke felt much better, and was ready to tackle her first final the next day.

"Are you coming home for Christmas?" Her mother had apparently changed topics, instead focusing on the holiday that Clarke despised to spend at home.

"Yes mom, I'm coming home for Christmas." Clarke replied, standing up as there was a knock at her door. She peered through the peep hole, surprised to see Bellamy Blake standing on the other side of the door looking down at his feet and fidgeting with his hands. It was kind of cute, actually.

"Great! We're spending it with the Jaha family again!" Clarke resisted the urge to groan as she opened the door wide, gesturing for Bellamy to enter. He did so without looking at her, taking a stiff seat at her kitchen table as she closed the door behind him and locked the deadbolt. "Thelonious told me that Wells is so excited to see you! I think he's planning on proposing soon, Clarke!" The blonde girl did groan then, so loudly that Bellamy jumped and looked up at her with wide eyes.

"I'm not marrying Wells Jaha, mom!" She exclaimed, not caring that her voice sounded so whiney. "How many failed Christmas dinners do we have to spend with them for you to understand that?" Abby let out a huff on the other line.

"But why not? He's grown into a great man with a great job! He can support you while you go to school, and you won't have to live in that terrible apartment!" Abby exclaimed in excitement. Clarke's mind reeled with offense.

"This 'terrible apartment' is my home, and if you continue to insult me like that, I'm not going to come home for Christmas. I have company. Goodbye mother." Clarke didn't wait for her mom to respond before hanging up and turning to Bellamy. "Sorry. What can I help you with, Bellamy?" She asked, taking a seat across from him.

"I just...wanted to make sure you were feeling better." He looked away, missing the small smile that Clarke made at this.

"That's really sweet of you, Bellamy. I'm feeling much better thanks to you and your sister." She replied. Bellamy hummed, staring down at his hands for a few seconds before standing up abruptly.

"That was all I wanted." He shouldered past her, quickly exiting her apartment. Clarke winced as the door slammed behind him. Clarke rolled her eyes at the rudeness of his exit and wondered how he'd ever kept a girlfriend for as long as he had. Letting out a sigh, she made her way into her bedroom and fell back onto her bed. She wondered what she was going to do about her mother and Wells. It wasn't that she particularly disliked Wells Jaha, she just didn't like him the way he liked her. If her mother was right, and he was going to propose to Clarke and think that she was just going to say yes, he had another thing coming. Clarke didn't want to be rude, but if that's what it would take for Wells to finally get the picture, then she wouldn't hesitate to do it.

Either that or...she needed to bring a boyfriend home with her.


	4. Chapter 4

**I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas, and I am so sorry it's taken me this long to update, but I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)**

"Seriously Clarke, why don't you just tell her that you don't want to marry Wells?" Raven asked, taking a large bite out of her burger and wiping the ketchup from the corners of her mouth. Clarke rolled her eyes, staring down at her own chicken and sighing heavily.

"I have. She doesn't seem to understand. She just wants me to marry him so that she and Thelonious can be relatives. Him and my dad were really close, before my dad passed away, so they're already practically like family, but my mom likes associating with big names, and the Jahas own a lot of property and businesses." Clarke explained, taking a bite of her grilled chicken and almost moaning in appreciation.

"Yeah, I've heard of them before." Raven nodded, dipping a French Fry into her chocolate milkshake before devouring it. Clarke smiled at her friend's weird eating habits before taking a sip of her iced tea. "Is it like an arranged marriage?" She asked, gauging Clarke's reaction across the table of the busy diner.

"Basically. Unless I bring someone home, my mom is probably going to force me to marry Wells. The only problem is that I'm not going to be able to find a boyfriend in the next two days, and I leave on Friday after my last final." She sighed, taking another bite of her chicken and leaning back, her plate almost completely empty. She chewed slowly and thoughtfully, staring over Raven's shoulder at the old picture of some baseball player hung on the wall.

"Ask your hot neighbor." Clarke choked on the chicken she was chewing, hurriedly grabbing for her iced tea and taking a large swig to clear her throat. Raven chuckled, rolling her eyes at her friend's dramatic reaction.

"Bellamy Blake?! Are you kidding me? The guy can't even stand me, much less go out with me." Clarke exclaimed, patting down her face with a napkin. "Besides, do you know how upset Octavia would be? Even before Roma broke it off with Bellamy like that, Octavia didn't like her." She stated, seeing Raven roll her eyes.

"I didn't mean actually ask the man to be your boyfriend. I meant ask him to play along. And besides, Octavia already likes you, so even if you were to actually ask him out, I'm not sure she'd mind all that much." Raven explained, shrugging her shoulders as Clarke laughed bitterly.

"I can barely stand the guy. I could never date him, even if he is good looking." She snapped, crumpling her napkin into a wad and dropping it on her empty plate. Raven smirked knowingly, but dropped the subject. "Anyway, thanks for this. I really needed it. Finals week is killing me, but at least it's Wednesday. Only two more days, and then freedom!" Clarke smiled as Raven chuckled, rolling her eyes at her dorky friend.

"No problem. Go study, now, since I know you're dying to. I got the bill." Raven shooed her away from the table, cutting off whatever protests Clarke was about to make. "Seriously dude, just go." Clarke smiled and nodded, heading towards the door of the diner with her backpack draped over her shoulder. Raven really was an amazing friend.

When Clarke got home, she could hear some sort of shouting match coming from Bellamy's apartment through the door. She rolled her eyes, taking her key out of her backpack and jabbing it into her lock. Just as she was turning it, Bellamy's door slammed open and a girl stormed out of it, yanking her jacket on and swiping her messy hair out of her eyes. Clarke smirked, noting the shirt that was on backwards, and pushed her own door open.

"You're a monster!" Her shrill screech carried from the end of the hall as Bellamy hung himself out of the door with a snarl twisted on his face.

"Whatever, Jenna!" He spat, eyes narrowed angrily. There were a few moments of silence before her wet, angry voice carried up the stairwell again.

"IT'S KENDRA!" Clarke resisted the urge to laugh, hiding her smile from her angry neighbor as she started to enter her own apartment.

"Is something funny to you, Clarke?" Bellamy snapped, immediately picking up on the blonde girl's amusement.

"Not at all, why would you think that?" She asked, not turning to look at him. "Seriously though, that's like the tenth girl you've had here in the past week. What'd she do, find another's bra or something?" Bellamy looked away at Clarke's sentence. This time, Clarke couldn't keep it inside. The laughter bubbled past her lips and she took a few steps into her apartment. "At least hide stuff like that before you invite another one over. And seriously, how hard is it to remember her name?" Clarke left it at that, swinging the door shut behind her and effectively cutting off the curse that Bellamy was about to spit her way. As she locked her door and slid the chain across it, she pulled her phone out and quickly dialed Octavia's number.

"Hello?" The girl answered, the smile obvious in her voice. Clarke could hear Lincoln talking in the background and blanched.

"Is it a bad time?" She asked, dumping her backpack by the door and kicking her shoes off.

"No it's okay, Lincoln and I were just deciding on a movie to watch. What's up?" Octavia chirped brightly. Clarke gnawed on her lower lip indecisively.

"Honestly, I'm kind of worried about your brother. He's always got a different girl leaving his apartment, and when they're not having sex, they're fighting. The walls here are paper thin, so I can hear everything. I think I've even heard him crying a few times. Not loudly, but just loud enough for me to hear from my room, since our bedrooms are backed up against each other." Clarke informed her, concern seeping through into her voice. Octavia sighed miserably.

"Yeah. The whole thing with Roma really has him twisted up. I'm worried about him too, but I've tried to talk to him and he won't listen to me. It doesn't help that Christmas is soon, and this will be the first one in a long time that he hasn't celebrated with her. I'm going to Lincoln's parent's house for Christmas, and they don't really like Bellamy, or else I'd ask him to go with me. He's going to end up drunk and alone, I just know it." Octavia voiced her fears to her friend, the smile gone from her voice. "Will you be here?" She asked hopefully, and Clarke could almost see her eyes sparkling through the phone.

"I'm going home for Christmas." Clarke sighed regretfully. "I'd really like to keep an eye on him, but I can't." She stated.

"Do my ears deceive me? Does Clarke Griffin actually CARE about Bellamy Blake?" Octavia gasped dramatically. Clarke chuckled lightly and rolled her eyes.

"I'm not completely heartless, Octavia. I just don't want the guy to drink himself to death. Besides, I know what his behavior is doing to you. I'm more worried about how it's affecting you than it is him." Clarke reminded her. Before Octavia could answer, a sudden commotion came from Bellamy's apartment. "I gotta go." She snapped, hanging up and quickly depositing her cell phone onto the kitchen table. She quickly unlocked her door, leaving it open as she swung Bellamy's door open and immediately dodged to the right as a plate came flying through the air, shattering against the wall right next to where her head had been.

"What the hell do you want?!" Bellamy shouted, standing in the middle of his decimated living room panting wildly. He'd overturned practically every piece of furniture and destroyed his bookshelves. Mercifully, the TV was untouched, but there were shards of glass around his kitchen and all of his cabinets were open and now empty. "I can hear everything you're saying in there, Clarke! I don't need a god damn babysitter! I don't really give a shit if you're worried about me, so just stay outta my damn business!" He roared, brown eyes narrowed dangerously. Clarke started to fear for her safety.

"Bellamy, you need to calm down." Clarke spoke softly, hands out as if to placate him.

"Make me, dammit! Since you think I need a fucking babysitter, why don't you fucking make me?! My personal problems aren't your damn business, so get the fuck out of my apartment and the fuck out of my life, okay?!" Clarke didn't know why she winced at that, but she did. However, she refused to look away from his fiery brown eyes, which were so animalistic she actually thought he might charge at her.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry, I'll stay out of your business, but please calm down. You're scaring me." She admitted, taking a defensive stance as he took a few threatening steps towards her. "I don't want to fight you, Bellamy." The man laughed loudly, throwing his head back and cackling.

"It really wouldn't be much of a fight, would it?! I'd kick your ass in three seconds flat!" He boasted, widening his stance. Clarke swallowed harshly, knowing that it was probably true. She wasn't a terrible fighter, but Bellamy had height, weight, and muscle on her. Suddenly, his demeanor changed. His shoulders sagged and his fists released. His eyes dropped to the carpet before he met her eyes coldly. "Whatever Clarke. Just leave." He turned his back and stormed into his room, slamming the door behind him. Clarke frowned and turned into his kitchen, dropping to her knees and picking up the shards of destroyed plate ware. She'd seen Bellamy angry before, but she'd never seem him furious like that. She suddenly realized that she was trembling, and tears threatened to fall from her eyes. Had she been like that when he was threatening her? What had she looked like to him? All doe eyes and scared, or sincere, or angry?

She suddenly winced as she picked up a sharp shard, slicing her palm and staring in wonder as a thin line of blood started to thicken across her palm, dripping down to the floor below her.

"Stop it." A hand touched her shoulder lightly and she looked up, startled to see Bellamy standing above her, looking much less angry. The edges of his hair were dripping and she wondered if he'd gone to splash some cold water on his face to calm down, much like she did when she was angry. "Please don't clean up my mess." She tried to hide her injured expression and looked away at the now bloody pieces of dishware in her hands. "I don't deserve it." He finished, taking the shards from her hand and dumping them in the trash can. She watched with wide eyes and lips parted as he snatched a dish towel from one of the drawers and wrapped it around her hand. "You're way too good to me, Clarke. Just...don't be so nice anymore." He didn't look at her as he got to his knees and started to pick up the shards of glass where she'd left off.

"Bellamy..." She breathed, clenching her hand around the towel. His shoulders tensed minutely at his name, but he didn't look up or acknowledge that she'd said anything.

"Sorry." He murmured, swallowing. "I was too harsh. Don't worry about me anymore. I meant it when I said that my personal problems weren't any of your business. This is something that I need to work through alone, without you or my sister or anyone at all. Just worry about yourself." He finally looked up at her, searching her face for something.

"Okay." She nodded, moved by the sincerity in his eyes, which she'd never seen before, and stood up. "Sorry about the blood on the floor." She looked away as he cracked a small smile.

"No worries, kid. I'll clean it up." She blanched at the nickname and turned to leave, softly closing his door behind her and re-entering her own apartment. Moving into the bathroom almost robotically, she unwrapped Bellamy's dish towel and started to disinfect her wound, staring at herself in the mirror. Why was her stomach churning like that? Was there really a chance that she actually...liked Bellamy Blake?


End file.
